


Granting Wishes

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: Fantasy, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-10-20 20:56:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10670604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: the one where jong is a fountain wish spirit with depression and minho is a spirit that helps people with depressionMaybe sometimes he wants to kiss Minho, because maybe sometimes he thinks he’s a little bit in love with Minho.tumblr





	Granting Wishes

"I wish my bro wasn’t such a fucking dick.” **  
**

Jonghyun snorts as the boy flicks a nickel into his fountain. He’s glad that no one milling around this little park can actually see or hear him; that was an embarrassingly obnoxious noise. He watches, eyebrow raised, as the teenager shuffles off. A quick search through his wish thoughts tells him nothing in particular; there isn’t anything specific that his bro did to make him so disgruntled. Jonghyun can’t do anything with so little information, so he files that wish away in the “nah” category.

As he watches the teen take his ipod out of his pocket, another little kid comes up to the fountain, a whole dime in their hand. This one is seven, and agender; he shifts sadly in his seat, wondering if it’s going to be another fruitless attempt to make their parents listen when they say that they’re not really a girl on the inside. There’s only so much a nudge to look up gender identity online can do. Sometimes the adults are just too close-minded to even make an attempt, and he winds up just wasting his magic.

He always tries, though. There are certain people that he always favors over others as deserving of having a wish granted. Call him biased; he doesn’t care. Sometimes, they’re the only ones he can bring himself to care enough about to pull himself out of the spirit world for. He knows that this is his job, and that he’s literally bound to do it every day by the higher ups, but… it’s still hard, sometimes. A lot of times. Most of the time. At any rate--helping the oppressed, the ignored, the depressed… helping the people like him is what really motivates him to be something more than a sad blob floating listlessly through endless space.

“I wish for ice cream. Cookie dough ice cream, with oreo sprinkles!”

The agender kid throws their dime into the fountain with such enthusiasm that Jonghyun has to chuckle softly. Ice cream. And here he was, waxing poetic on being drawn to the struggles of like minds. He can do ice cream. He finds the kid’s parents, using his magic to send both of them a little urge to treat their kid to something nice on such a hot night. Before he’s even finished, another two wishes sound in his ears: “I wish mom and dad would hurry up and divorce already, and, I wish for… I don’t know, emotions again?”

His face falls as he looks for the source. The wishes came from a sad teenage girl, who secretly flicks two pennies out of her hoodie pocket as she shuffles along behind her parents. Just peeking inside of them tells Jonghyun all he needs to know; they’ve been fighting for months, but neither will call the divorce because they think it’ll hurt their daughter. They don’t realize that staying together is making it worse. He wishes there could be something that he could do to help, but… fuck.

“Why the sudden mood downer, man?”

Jonghyun doesn’t jump; the voice suddenly to his left is soothing, familiar. He turns to watch as Minho slowly materializes next to him on the bench with his usual comforting smile. He wants to smile himself; visits from this depression spirit always make his mood lift.

He can’t smile, though; not with the wishes he just heard. It’s almost amazing, how quickly his mood can shift. Almost--it would be, if it wasn’t predictable, and sad. He turns back to watch the girl scuff the floor aimlessly as her parents stop to have an argument right there in the middle of the park.

“Why are you here?” he asks instead of answering. He knows that Minho knows. It’s part of his magic, like knowing people’s wish thoughts for context is for Jonghyun’s. Minho shrugs with a kind of casual grace that Jonghyun will never have, gesturing at the girl that just made those wishes.

“I’ve been with her for a few days,” he says. “I thought I’d come visit you too. Just to check up on you. Make sure you’re okay.”

“That’s sweet. You’re sweet.” Minho’s answer is always the same and Jonghyun is always overwhelmed by how sweet it is. He’s only assigned to humans, just like Jonghyun is, and the spirits aren’t really supposed to talk to each other on the job, but here Minho is, taking the time to come and visit Jonghyun and make him feel better. They could both get in trouble for this; Minho for wasting time helping another spirit and Jonghyun for missing the memo that spirits aren’t allowed to have problems of their own.

Still--Jonghyun is grateful. He’s had a lot of people come back to throw more money into his fountain with thankful words for making their wishes come true, but he doesn’t think all of them combined could ever match up to how he feels about Minho’s little visits. He feels a hot burn behind his eyes even as he thinks about how glad he is that Minho’s visited him today. He blames the other wishes from tonight. They’ve made him all emotional.

“Hey,” Minho murmurs softly, nudging Jonghyun’s side. “If you could not deny my whole purpose and existence right in front of me, please?” He’s grinning like a shit when Jonghyun blinks up at him. Jonghyun scoffs, rubbing wetness out of his eyes before it even has a chance to fall.

“Shut up. They’re happy tears, you tall asshole,” he grumbles. He catches a playful smile on Minho’s lips as he nudges Jonghyun’s side again.

“I know,” he hums. With that, they fall into silence. It’s not awkward; sitting like this is a regular thing for them. Jonghyun doesn’t really talk a lot when he’s doing his wishes and Minho has perfected the art of just sitting in comforting silence. It’s pretty much his job anyway. Jonghyun scoots minutely closer to him on the bench, wanting to leech off of the heat of his thigh, and also wanting to touch his thigh. He ignores the eyebrow Minho raises at him in favor of pointing at a kid that just tossed a quarter into his fountain and wished for the minimal mental health required to stop skipping classes and then crying about it. Every week. They feel too shitty to go to school, so they skip until they feel like they can handle it, but when they go back they have even _more_ work to catch up on, added to the stress of hiding it from their parents, which all just comes back around and makes them skip again. It’s a mess. Jonghyun has tried to help, but he can only do short little bursts of magic from here. Minho can help them more than he can.

“That kid,” he says, glancing at Minho to make sure he’s looking. “They’ve been having problems all year. School shit. Can you…?”

“Yeah, I’ll go hang around them for a little bit,” Minho says. He’s squinting in that way he does when he’s using his magic to figure out exactly what their problems are. “I’ll get them back on track. But, that woman,” he adds, pointing at a lady that’s walking up to make a wish right now. “God demoted, got divorced, didn’t get custody of her dog… all in a month. She really needs a break.”

Jonghyun doesn’t answer right away because he’s listening to her wish. As soon as she finishes helplessly asking for a job, he gets flooded with all of the info that Minho just told him plus some extra stuff about her talents and situation for context. He hums in thought. Not too long ago, a group of college kids walked by trying to hire people for a social experiment of some sort. It’s not exactly a job, but it’s a stroke of luck, and it’s something that he can do, so he gently nudges the idea in her head to walk by the campus on her way home. When she walks off, he glances at Minho again. Minho catches his eye and smiles, relaxing and genuine and kind, and Jonghyun feels a tug from his heart.

Maybe sometimes he wants to kiss Minho, because maybe sometimes he thinks he’s a little bit in love with Minho. Maybe sometimes he wants to say “fuck what the bosses say” and sit in Minho’s lap and wrap his arms around him and never let go. Maybe sometimes, but most of the time, like this time, he looks down after a second and scoots a tiny bit away. He can’t. He’s too chicken, too insecure, too shaky when Minho gets too close. When Minho looks at him it’s like he’s the most important person in the world, like he’s really worth something, like the swelling of his heart is wanted and welcomed. But also, when Minho looks at him, Jonghyun sees flawed perfection and a put-together life and someone that shouldn’t even have to stop to give someone like Jonghyun the time of day.

His feelings around Minho are a mess, he’ll admit. The depression spirit both helps and hinders him with his magic. He boosts Jonghyun up, but the knowledge that he needed magic to make him feel better brings Jonghyun right back down. It’s a constant push and pull that he has with himself. He wishes he weren’t so useless about this. He wishes he could _wish_ himself capable of making a move.

Once he has that thought, he pauses for a moment to think some more. Wishes. He’s the one that grants wishes; he’s the one that decides who’s worthy or not. He can decide that he himself is worthy, right? That’s a valid loophole.

“Wait here,” he tells Minho. He stands up without even checking to make sure he heard, strides to his own fountain and fishes a quarter out of his pocket. It’s a fake magic quarter since it’s not like he ever needs to carry any actual money with him, but whatever. It’s the thought that counts. He’s granted wishes for people that threw in bottle caps and acorns before. He turns it over in his fingers, stares at the water for a moment, and takes a deep breath. “I wish I could pluck up the courage to do… at least _something_ with Minho,” he whispers. He squeezes his quarter once and moves his hand like he’s going to toss it in.

Then he doesn’t toss it. He keeps his fist closed around it, biting his lip. This is just… pathetic. Using his own magic on himself because he can't confess to a crush--literally what the fuck was he thinking? He takes a step back from the fountain. This was just. This was a bad idea. He should just go back and sit down and pretend like this never happened. Minho will play along. He’s good like that. He’s taking another step back and almost turning around when he feels it.

Gentle at first, it’s a little warmth inside of him. It starts in his chest and then flows through the rest of him, straightens his posture, clears his head, makes him smile down at the quarter in his hand. The sensation is strangely familiar.

He figures, as he steps forward again, that if Minho wants him to be worthy, then it’s kind of the same thing as actually being worthy. He feels up his quarter for just another second before he flicks it into the water, watching its arc end in with a satisfying little splish. Then he turns around, walks confidently back to the bench, sits right next to Minho, looks up, opens his mouth, and then falters. Wait. Fuck. He thinks he forgot to use his own magic on himself.

Shit.

“So what’d you wish for?” Minho asks, nudging his side. Heat rises in Jonghyun’s cheeks as Minho just smiles at him, pleasant and knowing. Fuck everything. How could he have managed to fuck such a simple thing up? He can’t even find the magic inside of himself to do it now.

“I… mmgh,” he mumbles, trailing off with a shake of his head. He fucked up is what he did. Minho hums in question and nudges him with his elbow. Jonghyun nudges him back to get him to stop, turtling into his hoodie and wondering if Minho would hate him if he fucked off back into the spirit world without warning. He’d probably get in trouble with the bosses. It would probably be worth it to get his face back down to its regular color. His whole existence is just so embarrassing.

After a few moments, he can still feel Minho’s eyes on him, so he peeps out of his collar to see him smirking. _Smirking._ Finding joy in Jonghyun’s shame. Like he’s _cute_ or something. Jonghyun can’t believe it. What a smug asshole. This is unacceptable and Jonghyun can’t just let this go on. He huffs, lifting one hand to his collar and the other to Minho’s. Tugging both down, he leans up so that their mouths press together a little too quickly to be entirely gentle.

Their kiss isn’t exactly stellar at first, because Jonghyun is grumpy and Minho isn’t entirely prepared, but after a moment, they both kind of just sigh into it. Jonghyun scoots closer again and twists his other hand into Minho’s shirt as well, tugging him even closer. Minho’s hand slips from his thigh, to his waist, to his shoulder, and finally to his chin, where he tilts Jonghyun’s face for a better angle.

Jonghyun pulls back before they can get too deep into it, before he loses his breath and gets all embarrassed again. When he does part their lips, Minho’s breath is a little shaky anyway. He grins. _Now_ who’s the flustered one. Haha. Minho leans forward to kiss him again with another soft couple of pecks before Jonghyun leans even more back and licks his lips.

“Was that,” he starts, and then he swallows thickly. Minho is still focused on his lips with those intense eyes of his. Jonghyun kind of wishes he was wearing a thinner hoodie. “Was that your magic or mine?” he asks. He swears he felt a little boost of confidence just before he leaned in and squints at Minho suspiciously. It takes Minho a second, but he looks up from Jonghyun’s lips with a smile that’s less smug and more dazed.

“I mean,” he says. “I didn’t do anything after you sat down.” He shrugs, thumb rubbing over Jonghyun’s cheekbone. Jonghyun shrugs his hand off because it feels weird to have it there if they’re not kissing.

“Yeah?” he asks, circling his fingers around Minho’s wrist instead, just to touch. “What about before that, then?” He knows Minho used his magic there. He won’t hear any of it if Minho tries to deny it. Minho’s smile turns a touch back to that amused smirk that bugs Jonghyun so much.

“You looked like you were going to shake right out of your shoes,” he grins. Jonghyun scoffs, turning to cross his arms and turn up his nose. Rude.

“I was not shaking,” he grumps. Minho chuckles softly and leans back against the bench as well. One of his arms slings casually over Jonghyun’s shoulder. Jonghyun doesn’t do anything to move it away.

“You totally were,” Minho says. Jonghyun huffs again, making sure to do it extra loudly in case Minho didn’t hear his displeasure the first time.

“Shut up,” he snaps, “You don’t--wait--” He sits up straight and squints at the girl that just threw a whole dollar coin into the fountain. He’s not sure if he really just heard what he thought he heard, but as context floods his mind, he has to admit that it’s true. He laughs, short and loud. “Holy shit,” he says, “that chick wants to rim her boyfriend and she just blew a whole dollar on it.” He giggles more as he watches her pull her phone out to check her stuff. She didn’t even need to ask, really; Jonghyun is getting context about her boyfriend also and he would totally be down for it if she just asked.

“Are you gonna make it come true?” Minho asks. Jonghyun looks up at the incredulity in his voice and grins, throws a wink at him.

“Fuck yeah I am,” he says. He looks back to the girl and sends a little boost of determination her way. “You go, babe. Convince your boy,” he calls softly. She can’t hear him, but she still stands up a little straighter and strides out of the park with a new sense of purpose. Jonghyun watches her go, proud of himself. This is the kind of shit that he lives for.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to use your powers to get people to have kinky sex,” Minho says mildly. Jonghyun scoffs.

“Rimming isn’t even kinky,” he says, flapping a dismissive hand. Then he kind of smiles, a tiny little smile that’s just for Minho. “I don’t think _you’re_ supposed to ‘just check up on’ fountain spirits, either,” he says. This time it’s Minho’s turn to be all sheepish. He shrugs, sliding his other hand through his hair.

“You’re thankful for it anyway,” he says. Jonghyun scoots a little closer, leans against Minho’s shoulder, and lets himself enjoy this little high of natural confidence while it lasts and before he starts thinking about all the ways that this could possibly go wrong. He’ll worry about that later. He’s thankful for a lot of things and Minho is definitely one of them.

“I really am,” he sighs softly.


End file.
